Race-proven over 2022 in the Enduro World Series, the Giant Reign enduro bike gets some big updates for its eighth iteration, included more travel, updated geometry, tweaked suspension and the Reign SX model for bike-park action
Giant updates its classic enduro bike the Reign with an overhaul of the Maestro suspension platform, longer gravel, integrated storage and three versions, designed to suit everyone from the bike-park rider to the pro enduro racer. Check out our guide to the best enduro bikes to see the competition it’s up against.
Need to know:
- Updated Maestro suspension system with trunnion mount shock
- 160mm rear travel, 170mm front travel
- Integrated storage in downtube
- Interchangeable rear wheel size – 29er or 27.5
- Geometry flip chip with three positions
- Giant Reign and Reign Advanced Pro
- Reign SX bike park model
Enduro racer Youn Deniaud riding the Giant Reign Advanced Pro 1 on his home trails in France
First launched in 2005, the Giant Reign has changed a lot over the years, not least in response to the growing discipline of enduro and the rigours and demands it places on bikes, and how that’s translated into the kind of riding most people do these days. It’s the endless quest for a bike that performs on descents, pedals well on climbs, is robust yet light, and can handle a wide range of terrains and conditions. After all, enduro bikes aren’t just ridden by enduro racers.
But enduro is an excellent testing and proving ground for bike development, so the eagle eyed amongst you might have already spotted this bike in the wild, being raced by Giant Factory off-Road team over the course of the 2022 Enduro World Series, amongst other events.
Deniaud had his best finish of the year at the final EWS race in Loudenvielle, France, where he scored a stage win and top-five overall finish on his prototype Reign Advanced Pro
“We spent more than a year getting everything just right with the new Reign,” shares racer Youn Deniaud. “I got more and more comfortable with it throughout the season and had my best results later in the year. I think a lot of that has to do with the bike, which is really helping me push new limits.”
The proof seems to be in the pudding, since Deniaud raced his prototype Giant Reign Advanced Pro to a stage win and top-five overall finish at EWS Loudenvielle in France.
The newly released generation eight of the Giant Reign features updated geometry, updates to Giant’s Maestro suspension system including a shift to trunnion mounted shock, more suspension travel, integrated downtube storage, a three-position geometry flip chip and the option to run it as either full 29er or mullet with a 27.5 rear wheel. Phew! That’s a lot of changes.
There are also three models in the series; the premium carbon-framed Reign Advanced Pro, the aluminium-framed Reign, and the park- and gravity-focussed Reign SX.
Maestro, updated
Maestro is Giant’s flagship suspension platform, and for the eighth generation of the Reign it’s had some big updates. Most notable is the shock shift, which is now a trunnion mount with longer stroke; 62.5mm compared to 60mm in the previous iteration.
The Reign also features an Advanced Forged Composite rocker arm, designed to offer stiffness to improve performance, without adding much in the way of weight.
Suspension travel is also boosted. Rear travel is now 160mm, 14mm more than the generation seven model, and the Reign now features chunky 170mm forks.
Adaptable, adjustable geometry
The main chassis of the bike has also been updated, with longer reach, lower standover and shorter rear ends for greater manoeuvrability at speed in tight, techy terrain (or for whipping on those bike park jumps!).
Giant has also incorporated a geometry flip chip. Now, the vast majority of flip chips allow you to switch the geometry easily between a ‘high’ and ‘low’ position; Giant have gone one better, offering three different positions, high, low and middle or neutral.
High position increases ground clearance and steepens the seat angle; great for technical tight terrain and climbing. Low position slackens off the head tube angle and drops the bottom bracket, ideal for technical descents and planted handling. And of course the neutral position is somewhere in the middle.
Numerically, the geometry settings look like this (on a size medium bike).
- 63.5 degree head angle with 78.3 degree seat tube angle, 35mm BB drop (medium)
- 63.9 degree head angle with 78.7 degree seat tube angle, 30mm BB drop (medium)
- 64.2 degree head angle with 79 degree seat tube angle, 25mm BB drop (medium).
Frame protection and storage
As befits a bike that’s designed for ragging down rugged terrain, the new Giant Reign has integrated frame protection on the downtube to protect from rock strikes and undergrowth, and both the carbon and aluminium versions of integrated downtube storage.
All sizes can fit a water bottle, and the cable ports have also been refined to give a cleaner look and better performance.
Go 29er or go mullet
Another interesting development is the option to run either a full 29er set up, or opt for a mullet or MX set up with a 29er wheel up front and 27.5 wheels at the back for greater handling agility.
Giant Reign SX
- Reign SX: £4499
If you’re looking for seriously beefy suspension for seriously big terrain and bike-park fun times, then Giant has you covered with the updated Reign SX. It features a 190mm dual crown fork, but unlike its sibling models can only be ridden as a mullet or MX wheel setup.
Giant Reign Advanced Pro
The Reign Advanced Pro is the flagship version of the new Reign, based around a premium carbon composite frame. This is the model that was put through its paces in the Enduro World Series.
Deniaud worked with Giant product developers and team mechanics throughout the 2022 race season to fine tune the new Reign range. He rode prototype models to several top finishes at the Enduro World Series
It comes in four sizes; small, medium, large and extra large, and features 160mm frame travel plus 170mm fork travel.
Geometry-wise, the reach ranges from 426mm (29 rear) /418mm (27.5 rear) in size small, low setting, to 514mm (29) /507mm (27.5) mm in size XL – the numbers are understandably also affected by the geometry setting and what rear wheel size is being run. The wheelbase goes from 1214mm on the small to 1302mm on the extra large.
There are two options in this range, and both can run either as full 29ers or as MX.
Giant Reign Advanced Pro 1
- Price: £6599
- Shock: Fox Float X2 Performance Elite shock
- Forks: Fox 38 Performance Elite Fork, 170mm
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX Eagle
- Wheelset: Giant TRX 2 Carbon 29 WheelSystem
Giant Reign Advanced Pro 2
- Price: £4699
- Shock: RockShox Deluxe Select+
- Fork: RockShox ZEB Select, 170mm
- Drivetrain: Shimano
Giant Reign
- Reign 1: £3999
- Reign 2: £3499
The ALUXX SL aluminium frame gets updated geometry and suspension in line with its pricier carbon sibling the Giant Reign Advanced Pro. It can run as either full 29er or an MX/Mullet wheel setup, and has the three-position flip chip.
It also features the aforementioned new trunnion mounted shock, chunkier 160mm rear and 170mm front suspension, and it too gets the integrated downtube frame storage.